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Archive for the ‘Calligraphy’ Category

In a conversation with Chinese-based art blog RedBox Review the artist Liang Quan (b. 1948), living and working in Shenzhen, China, explains how ink painting is used in contemporary art and how this exploration continues to follow the philosophy of traditional Chinese painting.

Liang Quan is considered as one of the pioneers of contemporary ink painting.

“Ink painting”, also known as “wash painting”, was developed in China during the Tang Dynasty. Ink painting or shui-mo hua in Chinese (水墨畫) is composed of water, shui and Chinese ink, mo. In Western art, using similar techniques, it is known as drawings.

Liang Quan, 'Tea Stain No. 3', 2008, ink and paper, 63.8x48 cm.

In this conversation Liang Quan highlights to RedBox the difference between ink painting and ink art:

The exploration of using ink and referring to the tradition of Chinese painting is part of a greater narrative to define a cultural identity.

American contemporary artists like Brice Marden and Cy Twombly inspired Liang Quan while he was living and working abroad. On top of using ink painting and water, Liang incorporates paper into his works.

Liang’s ink painting seems abstract but in reality he follows the philosophy of this art. He aims to capture the soul of the subject rather that trying to reproduce the exact appearance of it. As he relates to RedBox,

My use of collage, combining strips of ink and/or tea stained paper, may seem abstract to the unknowing eye, and without direct correlation to a depiction of reality. But my works, collages, are actually diagrams of traditional Chinese landscape paintings and the Chinese still life painting genre of birds and flowers.

Interesting difference between ink painting in West and East: perspective

Having explored ink painting in Western art, Liang Quan observed a major difference between it and Chinese landscape painting: multiple points of perspective are used where Western painting uses only one or two. As he relates to RedBox,

To view a Chinese painting, one’s eye usually follows the flow of water from the bottom of the mountains as it meanders farther into the hills and up the composition of the painting.

Following this philosophy and adding paper strips and color makes Liang’s painting abstract.

After exploring the multiple points of perspective in Chinese landscape painting, Liang Quan combined this concept with the ideals of Nan Pai, also known as Southern School. As said in the RedBox article,

By addressing the theme of Chinese tradition, he is distinguished from his contemporaries choosing to use painting as a depiction of or social response to modern society.

Highlights of the forthcoming auction will travel through the Gulf Region prior to sale, one of which being Ali Omar Ermes’ The Fourth Ode which has an estimated price ranging from USD250,000 to USD350,000.

Ali Omar Ermes’s ‘The Fourth Ode’ (acrylic and ink on paper).

Calligraphy is an art form that has influenced the Doha art scene for many years, and Sotheby’s believes this sale represents the region’s past and present talents. Says Roberta Louckx, Sotheby’s Executive Vice President and Head of Sotheby’s in Qatar, in a the press release announcing the sale:

We are delighted to return to Doha later this year with an inaugural auction devoted to ‘calligraphy’, a theme that has inspired and informed the art of this rich and diverse culture throughout the ages – from the production of the first Kufic Qur’ans to the modern and contemporary artworks of Farhad Moshiri. Sotheby’s is strongly committed to the region, and we are extremely excited to present for sale, in Qatar, the creative endeavours of some of the region’s most talented artists, past and present.

According to the press release, the forthcoming calligraphy sale is built on the success of last year’s Doha sales. After opening an office in Doha in 2008, Sotheby’s held maiden sales in March last year during which an Indian carpet made of pearls and gems fetched USD5.5 million, although the Bloomberg article which reported on this sale also mentioned that the prices of the auctions were disappointing in general. As Dalya Islam, Director of Sotheby’s Middle East Arab & Iranian Art Department, states in the press release,

Last year at our Doha sales Sotheby’s achieved solid success for works by highly sought-after Arab artists such as Chafic Abboud, Nabil Nahas, Ayman Baalbaki, Yousef Ahmad and Ali Hassan. In order to build on this, we have decided to devote a sale to works of significant interest to the region, focusing on calligraphy. The Arabic script has stimulated artists for more than a millennium, and is still a highly regarded and revered art form that reflects the rich history of the region. The auction will emphasise the enduring legacy of Islamic art by tracing the development of calligraphy, with a focus on its contemporary manifestation.

The debut of Palestine contemporary art at the 53rd Venice Biennale (June 7th – Sept. 30th) attempts to elevate Palestine art to the international spotlight. This post explores whether Islamic art from Palestine has been marginalized and to what extent the inaugural show throws light on Palestinian art today.

In the past, Venice played a merchant role as a fulcrum between the Western and the Islamic world. Now, as an artistic realm, Venice gives Palestinian art its virgin step to impress a wider audience in the west.

However, contrary to traditional art, contemporary Palestinian art does not equate to Muslim art, and perhaps that’s why the work of seven participating artists is being featured at the Biennale. To avoid religious controversy, Muslim message is absent, whether or not it’s a true representation of Palestinian art is questionable, but Palestinian art does emerge in a gamut of forms.

Instead of pushing forward a message, it is more about preserving a collective memory. Subject to approval, chef d’oeuvres such as Gregor Schneidor’s enormous black cube, inspired by the Ka’aba in Mecca, did not pass through the religious sensitivity screening.

While accepted in the Muslim community in Germany, it was rejected at the Biennale in 2005 because some viewed it as a terrorist threat. Despite Venice’s ingrained connections to Islam culture, what is representative of all Islamic symbols is still not tolerated at the exposition.

If the theme does not revolve around Islamic roots, Palestinian artists must borrow other elements from their culture and history to assert a unique statement about their artwork. Free from religious implications, their artwork references Palestinian issues both on a local and global scale, bridging the past and the present.

Among the participating artists at the Biennale, Emily Jacir installs a stazione that encourages cultural exchange between Venice and the Arab world within architectural space and design. Situated on all of the vaporetto #1 stops, stazione provides a link between Venice’s heritage and the Arabic world, with Arabic translations inscribed on the shops in order to inform tourists of the rich origins.

Shadi HabibAllah, Ok, hit, hit but don't run 2009

Another artist Shadi HabibAllah, through video and animation of hominoids, delves into the visual perception of natural objects surrounding us in the mechanical state – that work is a living experience, not just a visual reference.

To evoke notions of collective past memories, Taysir Batniji uses multimedia approach by playing the “Date Video”, significant in abstracting a process where time is suspended, as the ticks resonated the length of time since the border closures that forbid him from returning home.

Via photography and video of the panorama of the structural architecture and geography of the Shufhat Refugee camp in Jerusalem, Jawad Al Malhi explores the refugee population that is marginalized and neglected. Since outsiders don’t have access to narrow passages in the camp, the panoramic view enables exploration of the image of camp as well as the entropic nature of the space of the camp. By exploring claustrophobia and containment within the camp, he casts light on the dark side of reality in the land of promise.

Taysir Batniji, Atelier 2005

Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti employ a sound installation device to explore the contemporary spatialization of urban centers. They take a dialogue in the dark approach, where the visitors enter a black-out room, blinded and only able to hear murmurs and cries of recorded discourse of what it is like to live in the Palestinian community. Heartbeats and musical interventions compounded the effect further. These two artists endeavor to illustrate the Ramallah Syndrome, which references the illusion of the new spatial social order and economic opportunities after the Oslo peace process. They question how Ramallah maintains as the city of Normalcy despite Israeli occupation and daily destructions.

Last but not least on the list of exhibiting artists, Khalil Rabah applies the Biennale idea to his work “A Geography: 50 Villages -The 3rd Riwaq Biennale”. This imaginary biennale takes place in the public space of 50 Palestinian villages, all of which are characteristic of ancient and original architecture and archways. While it rethinks confinement in physical space , it also runs parallel with Riwaq’s goal to protect and promote cultural heritage in Palestine. Meanwhile, by omitting large-scale and formal artistic presentation, it protests against the homogenization of the standard in the international art market. Moreover, it reexamines the biennale culture and ways to link Palestine art with the rest of the world.

The Spring 2009 sale of contemporary Asian art saw Sotheby’s present a collection of 8 Hong Kong artists. This is the first time that any auction house has offered a series dedicated to Hong Kong art in a contemporary art sale. The artworks are concerned with significant historical Hong Kong events including the 1997 Handover of the British colony to China, the 2003 SARS epidemic and the annual July 1st protests as well as the experience of living in Hong Kong’s cramped urban cityscape.

All of the lots were sold at estimate or more. Kum Chi Keung, Kevin Fung and the Kowloon Emperor achieved sale prices which were double or several multiples of the estimate.

Kum Chi Keung

Kum Chi Keung (b 1965) was initially a practitioner of Chinese traditional ink painting but then extended his practice to installation art which featured his favoured motifs of a birdcage and flight. He uses these ideas as a metaphor for not only the scarcity of space in Hong Kong but also for the idea of the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong from British colonial rule back to China when many locals emigrated or obtained foreign passports. Estimate HK$55-65000 excl premium and HK$127, 500 incl premium.

Freeman Lau (b1958) is a renowned designer as well as artist and uses the chair as a symbol in his practice to represent ‘place’ and ‘power’. In 1998 after the Handover Freeman Lau took a heap of standard chairs used by the colonial government and at the Fringe Club’s Out of Chaos, the Search for Position 11 arranged them in a haphazard wall. This represented not only the power of the colonial government but the disorder and confusion of Hong Kong’s inhabitants.

Tsang Tsou Choi

Tsang, Tsou Chin aka The Kowloon Emperor is a Hong Kong legend, famous for his calligraphy graffiti which he painted on public furniture. Undeterred by numerous warnings he roamed the streets for 50 years laying down his family genealogy and his personal history as an emperor in exile in blatant defiance of the Queen and English colonial rule. Deemed a lunatic by some, he was nevertheless recognised when in 2003 he became the very first Hong Kong artist to exhibit at the Venice Biennale. With a pre-premium estimate of HK$20,000 to HK$30,000 the lot attracted a number of bidders and was eventually sold for HK$212,500 including premium. (HK$7,7=US$1)

Man Fung Yi, Tranquillity

The SARS epidemic of 2003 was a monumental influence on Man Fung Yi‘s practice. That year her younger sister’s life hung by a thread after contracting SARS and being forced to abort her 27 week old fetus. Earlier in 2001 when she herself was pregnant using lit joss sticks she singed holdes into silk cloths and created patterns as a form of prayer. She re-enacted the ritual as an expression of gratitude when her sister regained her health. The arrangement of embroidery-like holes has become an abiding motif in her work.

Kevin Fung, Lik Yan (b 1964) has been an apprentice of Hong Kong artist woodcarver Tong King Sum since 1993 and his work expresses the stress and suffering of living in Hong Kong’s cramped urban spaces. His Baggage Series was selected for the 15th Hong Kong Art Biennial and is in the permanent collection of Hong Kong art museum. Estimate HK$80-100,000 excl premium, sale HK$212,500 incl premium.

Chow Chun Fai (b 1980) excels at capturing unnoticed details of Hong Kong daily life in his work. In his Painting on Movie series he appropriates images from Hong Kong movies.

Anothermountainman Stanley Wong, Ping Pui was selected as one of the representatives of Hong Kong art at the 51st Venice Biennale of 2005. He is an accomplished creative director of advertisements as well as films. In 2000 he began incorporating red, white and blue nylon fabric in his works, a material which is ubiquitous in Hong Kong and used in a variety of ways from covering buildings under construction to creating bags. This durable fabric represents the spirit of the Hong Kong people: versatile and resilient.

John Fung, Kin Chung

John Fung, Kin-Chung is a photographer who produces photographs of iconic urban vistas which include Hong Kong’s skyscrapers and the Mid-levels escalator which is the longest outdoor escalator in the world. He manipulates the images to create disjointed kaleidocopic patterns representing the discomfort and sensory overload of living in Hong Kong.

A group of Saudi artists will appear for the first time at international auction at Christies April sale in Dubai. This follows the inaugural entry of Saudi Arabia to Art Dubai fair last month.

Lulwah Al Homoud

Christies:

Christie’s will be offering a selection of works by Saudi Arabian artists in their sale of International Modern and Contemporary Art that will be held on April 29 in Dubai.

This is the first time that a group of work from Saudi Arabia has been included in their international auction.

The sale will include works by six contemporary artists including Ahmed Mater Al Ziad Aseeri and Lulwah Al Homoud, reflecting the vibrancy of the Kingdom’s young artistic talent.

Michael Jeha, Managing Director of Christie’s Middle East said: We have noticed a significant increase in the number of buyers at our sales from the Middle East with 75 per cent of the Dubai art sale buyers last year from the region, up from an average of 50 per cent in previous years. With the introduction of this group of Saudi Arabian lots we are hoping to continue this trend and further extend the reach of the sales to collectors throughout the region.”

Speaking at a packed press conference full of foreign journalists, Co-Founder and Director of Art Dubai John Martin said “Among the 26 participating countries, Saudi Arabia has entered the show for the first time with a gallery display of Saudi-based artists,” he added.

Noha Al Sharif

The Jeddah-based Athr Gallery, which recently featured in the “Edge of Saudi Arabia” show in London, will present works by artists such as Shadia Alem, Lulwah Al-Homoud, Baseim Al-Shargi, Noha Al-Sharif, Abdullah Hammas, Ahmed Mater, Bakur Sheikhoon and Ayman Yusri.

The global turmoil certainly hasn’t affected the number of art galleries in Dubai. Cuadro, Opera Gallery, Art Sawa and Art Space (which relocated), all opened their doors in the weeks directly following the liquidations, bail outs and nationalisations of some of the world’s most trusted financial institutions.

Each of the new galleries are attempting to carve out their own niche in the increasingly crowded Dubai scene. They flaunt their belief in art as an investment and all but Art Sawa are located within less than a minute’s walk from one another, in the heart of the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Being close to monied clientele is undoubtedly one of the biggest advantages of the DIFC location.

“Typically, the people who buy from us are the kind that can definitely afford it,” says Palestinian-born Maliha Tabari, the managing director of the Art Space gallery. “I have to admit, mostly they are people in the banking industry.”

In a little over half a decade, Tabari has witnessed a phenomenal growth in the Dubai market.

“I’ve been in Dubai for six years and I came when there was almost no art,” Tabari says.”At the time, if a painting was $3,000 (Dh11,000), it was like, ‘That’s so expensive’. Nothing could sell at that price. We were trying hard to sell pieces by Farhad Moshiri for about $2,000 (Dh7,500) or $3,000 (Dh11,000) – now his work is worth $200,000 (Dh740,000) or $300,000 (Dh1.1million),” she says. “We are talking about a five-year period, so it really happened fast.”

The last five years have seen a massive proliferation in commercial art galleries in the city.

From just two names to around 30, the list includes international sellers and high-end spaces showcasing masterpieces with million-dollar price tags.

Opera Gallery’s new space in Dubai is the company’s 10th global outlet and specialises in high-end works. Its walls currently host pieces by Picasso, Dali, Monet and Renoir, as well as other contemporary and Middle Eastern artists.

Auction houses have been catalysts in building the market for Middle Eastern art.

In April, Christie’s set a record for the sale of an individual piece of Middle East art, the $2.8million (Dh10.3m) sale of Praviz Tanavoli’s sculpture, The Wall (Oh Persepolis). Will Lawrie, the head of sales for Arab and Iranian contemporary art at Christie’s Middle East, says the sale was “the single most flabbergasting figure” of the year.

“The Parviz Tanavoli sculpture was unique, really a one off thing from the 1970s. An unbelievable thing.” Standing almost two metres tall, the bronze monolith is covered with calligraphic engravings. Although the sculpture would look at home in ancient Babylon, the figures upon it resemble robotic, space age beings.

The commercial market activity has helped stimulate local artist production and the creation of non-profit space to support them.

“There has never been a recognition of being an artist as a profession [in the Emirates]. But there is now a glimmer that people are realising that they could do this for a living,” says Jill Hoyle, the manager of Tashkeel.

A hub for young artists and designers, Tashkeel opened in January 2008. It is supported by the avid artist and photographer Lateefa bint Maktoum, the daughter of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.

The non-profit organisation tries to encourage artists on the ground level by offering free studio space.

She says that the proliferation of galleries and growing investment market has made art much more high profile. “People are more aware of the role that art plays in life. I think now it is being taken more seriously.”

Still, the UAE is not a place for starving artists displaying in abandoned warehouses. The blurry-eyed, caffeine-addicted conceptualists of Paris and New York are probably in no rush to move here. For artists who are not selling in six figures, rent is a major obstacle and prohibitively expensive studio space make the UAE “scene” more of a marketplace than a breeding ground.

Parviz Tanavoli The Wall (Oh Persepolis)

But confidence in the art market is waning alongside tumbling asset prices. Dubai’s stock market has lost close to 70% of its value since the summer. Two of the UAE’s largest mortgage firms, Amlak Finance and Tamweel, were nationalised last week. What is the future for the economy of Dubai? The Guardian reports that

“Dubai’s free zones, real estate and tourism are all highly susceptible to a global downturn. Real estate is the flagship and if confidence has been knocked, which it clearly has been, it’s in trouble. Now the confidence has gone, credit worthiness has taken a knock,” said Christopher Davidson, a Gulf expert at Durham University.

Nakheel, the developer of man-made palm tree-shaped islands on which celebrities such as David Beckham have bought homes, announced earlier this week that it had cut 500 jobs -15% of its workforce – and was scaling back projects.

Though thousands of expatriate professionals are expected to lose their jobs, Dubai’s optimism may not be entirely misplaced. A survey by a leading financial services firm this week predicted that the Gulf as a whole would escape recession, with a growth rate of 3.6% next year.

And this is not the only voice expressing optimisim for the longer term. Former HSBC chairman David Eldon who has long term and continuing professional ties with Dubai notes in his blog Eldon-Online

The reality now is that any hopes of economic immunity from the global meltdown, and any talk of decoupling are now firmly consigned to the fantasy file. All economies are being affected by the global downturn, and that includes Dubai.

Of course, the other reality is that Dubai has some underlying strengths that have spawned its growth to date. Underlying strengths that remain intact despite the current economic environment. Underlying strengths such as an excellent, if still incomplete, infrastructure a well regulated financial sector and an inherent openness to people, companies and capital from elsewhere. All tied in to solid macroeconomic fundamentals.

He counters concerns about Dubai’s future growth due to tight credit arguing that the perception of some rating agencies that Dubai lacks the “financial muscle to cover its debt” is misplaced and that some reporting has been “misleading”.

The reality is Dubai has already publicly declared it can cover repayments for the next seven quarters. But the media have a hard time believing senior officials, and reports are grudging in the extreme.

The New York Times has written a useful summary survey about art from Iran, the market for it over the last two years and what has been happening in recent auctions.

Artists worked in relative obscurity until about two years ago when an eager market for their work developed. Iranian artists dominate auctions of Middle Eastern art held by the international auction houses which set up in Dubai in 2006. Auction results were hit hard in October/November 2008 but there is still interest.

“Prices for art in the October and November auctions dropped drastically. Mohammad Ehsai, who sold one piece for $1.2 million in April, for example, sold a piece in October for $482,000. Still, 40 of the more than 70 Iranian pieces that were offered were sold, Christie’s said.”

The number of galleries has mushroomed despite the recession

New galleries have sprung up in Tehran, even after oil prices began to plummet, and gallery hopping has become something of a hobby in the capital.Since the loosening of restrictions in 1998, the number of art galleries in Tehran has increased to 60 from 8. At least three of those new galleries opened in October and November. .

and collectors swarm to auction house sales dominated by Iranian works.

” The artists are benefiting from a surge in interest in their work in Iran itself that began after the international auctions lifted the value of their work. At an auction in Dubai in October, the newfound enthusiasm for Iranian art was obvious. About 2,000 art collectors gathered at the fancy ballroom of Emirates Tower Hotel in Dubai for the Christie’s auction of International Modern and Contemporary Art, featuring Arab, Iranian, Turkish and Western Art. Despite the show’s name, the walls were dominated by Iranian pieces and the auction room was filled with Persian speakers.”The auctions always have more Iranian works, by number of lots but also by total sale amount,” said Ali Bagherzadeh, the director of the Xerxes Fine Arts gallery in London.”

Mohammad Ehsai

Political events in Iran influenced the subject matter of artworks: artists struggled with new restrictions introduced by hard-line religious authorities after the 1979 revolution. Depictions of the human body were banned for example. But there was some political support for art between 1979 and 2005

“the artists benefited from the years when Mohammad Khatami, a reformist president, was in power (from 1997 to 2005) and the government began to actively promote artists, rather than controlling them as it did right after the revolution.

Although the rules have tightened somewhat again under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranians have responded as they often do – occasionally breaking the rules in private. Some artists, for instance, have depicted politically touchy subjects, but sell those works from their homes or abroad.”

Iranian art currently on the market is divided into two eras : modern (pre-revolution) and contemporary (post-revolution). The moderns include sculptor Tanavoli who was part of the Saqqa-Khaneh (drinking fountain) school which is concerned with Iranian culture and the Shiite faith and are known for abstract calligraphy works. Contemporary artists, such as Rokneddin Haerizadeh, have developed individual styles and are inspired their physical surroundings and the political events of their time: eight years of war with Iraq and three decades of political suppression.

This exhibition showcases the work of three contemporary Korean artists who are new to SAM’s permanent collection and illustrates their ties to that country’s past.

Each of these artists is continuing and re-interpreting an aesthetic developed during the Choson period (1392-1910), a time when Korea embraced Neo-Confucianism. Followers of Neo-Confucianism sought to cultivate self-control and humility.

White was a supremely important color, signifying integrity, innocence and purity. A variety of whites, often set in beautiful contrast with cobalt blue, are displayed on porcelain works from the 17th to the 19th century.

Contemporary ceramics artist Park Young-sook (born 1947) is revising the elegant shape and snowy-white color of the “moon jar,” regarded as the epitome of the Choson sensibility.

In Four Admonishments by Cheng Yi, calligrapher Son Man-jin (born in 1964) refers to four practices that Neo-Confucianism considered essential to perfect virtue (Look, Listen, Speak and Act), expressing them in abstract form with powerful brushwork.

Also on view are oil paintings by Chun Sung-woo, inspired by blue and white porcelain, and photographs of ancient Korean porcelain vessels, taken by Koo Bohnchang.